Summary

Coates recalls being excited but apprehensive about his first day at Polytech. He boarded the subway for the long ride that would require connecting with a bus to take him all the way. He had lived in a dorm for a month at the University of Maryland over the summer to prepare him for Polytech. After arriving at the campus, he headed to the homeroom number that had been sent to him in the mail. Coates writes that Big Bill was being indoctrinated into life at Mecca, otherwise known as Howard University. Bill wasn’t into school; he was moved by the laws of survival. Coates recalls that Bill initially found the eggheads off-putting but began to get into the school and its African-American history and found a group he belonged in. Bill became the connection on campus for marijuana. He partied and avoided...